Information or data processors are found in many contemporary electronic devices such as, for example, personal computers, game playing devices and video equipment. Modern processors typically include several operational units including integer, floating point, and graphics units. Additionally, memory units, register files and on-chip caches (collectively, memory) are also provided for temporary or longer term storage of instructions and information. When a portion of memory is no longer used, a “garbage collection” utility may be used to reclaim the unused memory so that the memory can be reallocated to other tasks. For example, a conventional Java® virtual machine performs a periodic memory management technique called “garbage collection” in order to reclaim portions of memory that store object data that is no longer referenced by any objects in any currently running Java processes.
While a useful memory reclamation technique, the information traced (collected) by conventional garbage collection utilities have not been fully utilized and integrated into more comprehensive memory performance management in processors of conventional design.